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Crafts / Phulkari

Phulkari

State
Punjab
Material
Silk floss · Khaddar cotton
Rarity
Popular

A garden stitched from the wrong side

About

Punjab's silk darning-stitch embroidery, especially the bagh, a head cloth so densely stitched that it looks like a garden.

Phulkari means flower work. It is the folk embroidery of the Punjab region, worked in untwisted silk thread on thick hand-woven cotton cloth called khaddar. In the narrow sense a phulkari is a shawl or head cloth with flowers sparsely embroidered so that the base cloth shows, while a bagh, meaning garden, is covered so densely with stitches that the cloth underneath almost disappears.

The embroiderers are women. Phulkari was a domestic craft, made at home and not for sale, by mothers, grandmothers and aunts for the girls of the family, and made in groups, with neighbours and friends sitting together and singing. Different hands could contribute different patches to the same piece, so one cloth can carry several styles.

Phulkaris were worn and gifted at weddings, births and festivals. Traditional pieces include the head cloth (chope and bagh), the shawl and the bedcover, and the tradition lives on today in dupattas, stoles, cushion covers and bags, both hand-embroidered and machine-made.

How it’s made

Traditional phulkari starts with khaddar, a handspun, handwoven cotton cloth. It is woven in narrow widths because of the loom, so two or three lengths are stitched together before embroidery. The cloth was often dyed in madder red, rust red, indigo or other deep colours.

The embroidery is done entirely on the wrong side of the cloth. The embroiderer counts the threads of the coarse weave, so there is no need for a drawn pattern or stencil, and makes long and short darning stitches that float over the surface. Untwisted silk thread, called pat, is used, in colours such as red, white, golden yellow, green and blue. The direction of the long stitches and the way light falls on them is what makes the silk shine and gives the design its glow.

Motifs are geometric and from daily life: stalks of wheat and barley, fruit, birds, animals, flowers and diamonds. In a bagh the stitches are set so close that the whole cloth is covered. Today the same work is done with simpler cotton or chiffon bases and machine embroidery, which is faster and cheaper but lacks the hand-worked depth.

Key features

  • Darning stitch worked from the wrong side of the cloth
  • Untwisted silk floss thread on handwoven khaddar cotton
  • Counted threads, with no stencil or drawn pattern
  • Geometric and everyday motifs: wheat, flowers, birds, diamonds
  • Bagh: dense embroidery that covers the whole cloth
  • Red and its shades are the most favoured colours
  • Traditionally made by women at home for weddings and births

History

Where phulkari came from is debated. One view is that similar embroidery was found in other parts of India long ago and survived only in Punjab. Another view links it to Central Asia or Iran, where a similar floral embroidery is called gulkari, although scholars have noted that Punjab's phulkari is distinct. A seventh-century text, the Harshacharita by Bana, mentions people embroidering flowers and leaves on cloth from the reverse side, which fits the way phulkari is made.

The word phulkari itself appears in Punjabi literature by the eighteenth century, in Waris Shah's version of the tale of Heer and Ranjha, where it is listed among the bride's wedding clothes. Girls' trousseaus were built up over years. The embroidery was passed on by word of mouth, without pattern books, and each region was recognised by its own style.

In the late nineteenth century phulkari began to be sold commercially, including to buyers in Europe and America, and firms in Amritsar took orders. The market changed some designs and colours. The traditional home craft declined through the twentieth century, and is now kept alive by artisans, cooperatives and designers who work to revive it.

Facts

  • Wrong side Worked from the back. The embroiderer works on the reverse of the cloth, so the long floating stitches appear on the front as bright surface patterns.
  • Bagh A garden in thread. Bagh means garden. A bagh is a cloth almost entirely covered by stitches. Related types in the tradition include the chope, the sainchi and the tilpatra.
  • No pattern book Counted, not drawn. There were no pattern books and designs were generally not traced. Women counted the yarns of the coarse khaddar and passed designs on by word of mouth.
  • A group craft Stitched together. Women sat together and sang while embroidering. Because friends contributed, a single phulkari can show different styles.

Market

Hand-embroidered and machine-made

Phulkari is sold as dupattas, stoles, shawls, cushion covers, bags and wall hangings. Much of what is sold is machine-embroidered, which is quicker and cheaper. True hand work is slower and is often priced accordingly: look at the back of the cloth, where hand-darned work shows long floating stitches while machine work shows a tangle of small stitches.

Sustainability

Slow, repairable and made to last

Traditional phulkari is made from handspun and handwoven cotton and plant dyes such as madder, and meant to be kept for decades. Choosing cotton khaddar and hand embroidery supports the craft's slow, low-waste ways, and a worn phulkari can be repaired stitch by stitch.

Products

  • Phulkari dupatta: The best-known item, worn at weddings and festivals
  • Bagh and chope: Head cloths covered in dense embroidery
  • Shawls and chaddars: Large cloths with wheat, flower and diamond patterns
  • Cushion and pillow covers: Modern home use of the traditional patterns
  • Bags, potlis and wall hangings: Small modern pieces made by cooperatives and designers

Words to know

  • Phulkari: Flower work; Punjab's folk embroidery.
  • Bagh: Garden; a cloth fully covered with embroidery.
  • Khaddar: Coarse handwoven cotton used as the base cloth.
  • Pat: Untwisted silk thread used for the embroidery.
  • Darning stitch: A long running stitch that floats on the surface; the main stitch of phulkari.
  • Chope: A type of phulkari traditionally associated with weddings.
  • Pallu: The decorated end of a shawl or scarf.

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